towerofanimus | Who never doubted, never half believed. [CLOSED]

Characters: Saber (Alter) and Rin Matou
Setting: 29th floor
Format: Prose
Summary: In the hedge maze, Saber encounters Rin in trouble. This isn't the Rin she knows.
Warnings: violence and Type-Moon characters (will update if needed)

There was a crispness to the air as Saber stepped into the hedge maze. It was both refreshing and odd as she knew she was inside a tower, yet this floor registered to all her senses as being outdoors. Whatever light source there was hung low in the sky, making her wonder how the daylight cycles worked. Was it a regular twenty-four hour cycle like on Earth or did it vary from floor to floor? If she wasn't so infuriated with the public access network, she'd ask others their opinion using it. Yet, despite Ruler's own experience and suggestion for the knight to use it, Saber found she wanted to drive her sword through those that she talked to on it.

Useless thing.

As angry as she'd been, Saber had stormed out of the dormitories and off to explore the tower. She'd heard there were monsters that roamed the place; perhaps she would be able to vent some of her anger on something stupid enough to attack her or someone hapless around. In her anger, she'd forgotten that she'd agreed to take Hakuno with her when she explored. Not that she needed the healing support. If anything in this tower was such a challenge that she needed healing, either it was another Servant or something no one should be engaging without a full company in support.

Several minutes into the maze, Saber stopped and tilted head up. Something was brushing the edge of her senses, fainter than the breeze, that was resonating within her. But that wasn't her biggest concern right then.

Blood. She smelled blood.

That distinct tang cut through the natural greenery and drew the knight just as it would hungry predator scenting what could be wounded prey... An easy meal. Turning deliberately down the next leg of the maze, more touched Saber's senses as she tried to zero in on where it was coming from.

A dead end greeted her, as did the musk of something distinctly non-human. Yellow eyes narrowed as the visor descended over them. One hand barely touched the side of the hedge maze while the other held Excalibur as she headed back the way she came, choosing a different path.

Less headstrong... more cautious. She didn't know what she was going to find. Yet.

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That comment earned her ire, but not enough for her to lash out against the one helping her. Rin might be impulsive, but she retained enough sense to not bite the hand that feeds or in this case, the hand holding her body tight. Although she would contest that being a 'friendly' reminder.

"Of course not." A sigh to show her frustration. "I just think if everyone got together to fight them at once, we could purge this tower of them fully. If there are other heroic spirits here like yourself, then who knows how powerful other beings from alternate worlds are?"

"Such would needs a strong leader to unite them in a common goal."

Saber cut some more monsters down and, upon turning a corner, halted suddenly. Her grip of Rin tightened slightly as she turned her gaze onto the brambles of the hedge wrapped about her sword arm. With a creaking sound and rustling of leaves, the hedges surrounding them started to move, converging upon them.

"I have no desire to step into such a role again." And she knew Rin wasn't suited to it. It would take another. Probably someone 'good'.

Ripping her arm free, the sound of metal scraping over metal, Saber moved faster. "Hold onto me with your free arm. The hedge is alive."

The idea of manipulating others to kill and kill at her command is all too enticing of a though, but dismissed when Saber spoke. It left her dazed momentarily as she tried to comprehend he absurdity of her words. Of course a plant had life to it, but the tone she spoke made Rin think 'alive' in another sense.

"Could I just light it all on fire?" While she would be unable to remain focused in pain, would it matter if she was igniting the entire maze? Maybe it would be better to wait until the exit had been found before they trapped themselves in a blazing inferno.

A spark or two wouldn't hurt, would it? As tempted as she might be, listening to Saber seemed a better way to earn her respect.

And when you're in the arms of a spirit that could snap you in two without trouble, you sort of had to listen to what little manners there may be present within the mind. Shifting her weight, she'd instead choose to hold onto Saber with both of her arms, draped over the shoulders and clasped behind her upper back.

"I almost feel as though I'm a princess in this position." A jest, hopefully to lighten the mood. She would be in pain and her low tolerance started to show with agitation in her voice. "Let's get out of here quickly."

"Heh. I am a knight, Rin. Many a tale is written of a knight saving a princess." That was the best Saber could come up with right then as much as she was watching the hedge converging on them.

With Rin holding on, Saber greatly increased her speed to avoid being captured by the hedge's barbed tendrils. She cut a few branches down when they got too close, but there was the sound of scraping metal occasionally as the brambles brushed against Saber's armor, unable to grab on due to the speed she was moving at.

"Light it on fire if you wish. I do not care."

"I'm not much of a princess however." A honest statement once more, but she found it to be the truth. A princess didn't endure what she had to (or at least she wanted to believe that), so Rin would disregard ever thinking of herself along those lines.

Although now that she had Saber's blessing to burn the entire floor, the thought brought some excitement. She watched as it tried to grab at Saber and how her armored appeared to strike it down with each step. With a raised arm, she murmured an incantation she must have learned from her father early on. The embers leap from her fingertips along the brambles, Rin watching it with an all too eager smirk.

Saber wasn't sure if the hedge would even burn, not with the way it scraped against her armor as if it was metal. It mattered not one way to her, but a part of her wanted it to work to make Rin feel better. Fire had a way of being hypnotically fascinating to those that used it.

"That depends on what one thinks a princess is," Saber commented, slashing through some brambles trying to close off the path she was following. "Not every princess' story becomes a fairy tale. At least not the whole tale. Queens were once princesses, Rin."

"Hoh, so do you associate me with a queen already? That was a fairly quick jump to make."

Another jest, but it kept her from being infuriatingly frustrated at the lack of damage she inflicted on their surroundings. At least what little there had been calmed her, the warmth causing her to settle back down into Saber's hold.

"This place is much larger than I recall. I imagine if I were to be trapped here alongside an ally, I would never be able to find them. We'd just scream at each other endlessly."

"No." That was a flat and immediate reply. "You are no queen; you simply possess the potential to be one should your ambition take you there."

And Saber's frustration with the hedge was growing. She leaped over one whole bramble wall to sight her end destination. There. Now she had a better path in her mind's eye to take. This shouldn't take more than a few more minutes.

"It is in the nature of mazes to make one think such. I suggest heeding caution the next time you are here. I will not save you again."

Who never doubted, never half believed. [CLOSED]

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